A bell from a Chicago church will ring out across Kensington Gardens as part of the Serpentine’s latest pavilion.
The wooden building, designed by US artist Theaster Gates, is called Black Chapel and will host live performances throughout the summer.
Its structure is influenced by the great kilns of Stoke-on-Trent which powered the nation’s ceramics industry and the bell, from a demolished church in the US city, will call in audiences and signal the start of performances.
Gates said his the building’s design and name “acknowledges the role that sacred music and sacred arts have had on my practice”.
He added: “Black Chapel also suggests that in these times there could be a space where once could rest from the pressures of the day and spend time in quietude. I have always wanted to build spaces that consider the power of sound and music as a healing mechanism and emotive force that allows people to enter a space of deep reflection and/or deep participation.”
Serpentine chief executive Bettina Korek and artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist said the building would be “a platform for engagement, spirituality and togetherness”.
The building is designed to be environmentally friendly and will be taken down and re-built on another site when its run in west London is over.
Gates follows previous designers of the annual construction including Ai Weiwei, Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid. The pavilions traditionally stay up for around three months and must be built to a limited budget to provide a social space for visitors to the gallery.
